We All Fall, We're Only Human
by xXBloodyxRoseXx
Summary: AU - Post-Shadow Souls, Damon is struggling to cope with being human but Bonnie is there to support him and maybe more? Meanwhile when an old enemy of Shinichi's shows up the gang must join forces with SHinichi to defeat him but will it end in disaster?
1. Whose Side Are You On?

**Yes, I finally managed to upload something! This is my first FF, please review and tell me if you think I should continue with this story! Shout outs to SuperFunkyGirl1 by the way, for just being awesome generally and giving me the metaphorical kick up the ass to finish writing this thing :P**

**PS. I am a lazy ass, so don't expect the next chapter any time this week, but if I get reviews, the next chapter might materialize quicker :)**

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*Bonnie's POV*

Damon had been human for three hours now, and the novelty of the situation had worn off and the grim reality had begun to set in. When we had first found out, everyone laughed. Damon, proving that becoming human hadn't changed his personality, yelled at us, then blamed everyone but himself for what had happened.

Nobody was laughing now. Damon was upstairs, smashing everything in sight and cursing furiously in Italian, while Sage was trying (and failing) to calm him down. Downstairs, the rest of us were watching Stefan smashing everything in sight and cursing furiously in Italian, while Elena was trying (and failing) to calm him down.

Stefan and Damon were more alike than they would care to admit.

"_Merda! Pezzo di merda!" _Stefan yelled with such vehemence that we all took a step back. "He just takes what he wants, no matter who he hurts in the process!"

I took a deep breath. "But Stefan…"

I paused. I could feel everyone in the room turning to look at me. The look in Stefan's eyes was _murderous_. "…What?" he said with icy precision.

"Well… to be fair to him..." (at this point Stefan's eyebrows practically hit the roof) "It's not like he… wanted to be human." I finished in a tiny mouse-squeak.

"Exactly!" He was spitting out each word like something disgusting was stuck in the back of his throat. "He didn't want his humanity, but he stole mine because he knew it would hurt me! He did this on purpose!"

This time it was Meredith who spoke. "Stefan," she said, sounding as calm as if she dealt with this kind of situation every day, "You're being unreasonable. Why don't you calm down, go upstairs and talk to Damon?"

Stefan was practically trembling with rage. " Whose side are you on, Meredith? Talk to him? I'll _fucking_ murder him! _Vaffanculo! Andate tutti a 'fanculo!"_

And with impossible speed, Stefan Salvatore ran out the front door, slammed the door so hard that the doorknob fell off, and kept running.

We all slowly breathed a sigh of relief. "I've never seen him so pissed off," Matt sighed.

Elena gently put an arm around him. "I know. And Shinichi's still out there, hell bent on destroying the town. How can we fight him if we can't even get along?" she moaned softly.

The kitchen door opened with a slow creak and Mrs. Flowers gradually emerged from behind it, carrying a tray laden with food – cakes and a mug of hot chocolate.

"What is this?" she enquired.

It was the tray of human food I had made for Damon, but from the smashing coming from upstairs, it didn't sound like Damon was ready to consider the practicalities of being human. So I had set it aside and forgotten about it. "Oh, that," I said. "It's just some … things … for-"

"Ah, of course," she replied. "Would you like me to take it upstairs?"

Meredith sighed and said "Actually Mrs. Flowers, Bonnie and I can do it."

"Meredith, are you crazy? I squealed. "He'll rip your head off!"

"Maybe… but I'd rather not be here when Stefan gets back." She smiled. " _Pezzo di merda!" _she said in a startlingly accurate impression of Stefan's voice. And for the second time this morning, we all simultaneously burst out laughing.

"Come on, Bonnie…" Meredith said, half-dragging me up the stairs.

*Damon's POV*

"Damon… come on, you're not going to achieve anything by smashing your head against the wall…" Sage was saying.

"There's nothing left to smash!" I yelled, and ran into the wall again.

Sage didn't say anything for a while. He just sat back in a sagging armchair and raised one eyebrow. "You'll hurt yourself," he said, sounding like he was talking to a five year old.

"I don't give a shit! I hate this! I can't be human; I'm not a _fucking _human! _Merda!" _I smashed my head against the wall again, but Sage was right, I wasn't achieving anything. Beating myself up about it might kill off half my brain cells, but it wouldn't make me a vampire. I realised I was going to have to completely and utterly humiliate myself – I was going to have to ask _Sage _for help. Great. "Sage…" I said slowly, in the same patronizing tone he used to speak to me, "I…" I couldn't think of anything witty or clever to say. I shook my head and said simply, "Help me. We've been friends for... what, 300 years? Please, help me. I need you to make me a vampire again. I can't be human; I wouldn't know what to do with myself. For God's sake, I don't even know how to breathe."

Sage shook his head. "Sorry, _mon ami, _as much as I hate to see you suffer, I also… love watching you suffer."

"Seriously! After everything we've been through…"

"Sorry," Sage interrupted. "I mean, watching you suffer, it is… somewhat _hilarious._" He had a stupid grin on his face. Sage was one of my oldest friends, but at times, he could really be a pain in the ass.

"Please, Sage…" I pleaded.

Sage laughed, a low, patronizing laugh. "Don't beg, Damon. You look pathetic."

I tried to growl at him, but it wasn't something that came naturally to humans – I didn't sound menacing, I just sounded like I had a sore throat or something. "Oh, leave me alone, you …piece of crap!"

As insults go, it was pretty lame, but I was tired, I was sick of the sight of him, and I _really _wanted to be alone. I didn't really care anymore. Sage turned around and walked slowly out of the room. He smiled. "As you wish, _mon ami,_" he said before he shut the door.

I stood against the wall for a few seconds, staring at the door. I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing. _In… and out… _I had never felt so completely alone. _In… out…_ After everything I did to rescue him from the Dark Dimension, Stefan still hated me. _In… out… _But if it weren't for me, he wouldn't have been there in the first place. _In… out… in… out… _They all hated me. This time yesterday, I wouldn't have cared if Stefan's little band of humans all dropped dead, but now I wanted their acceptance more than anything. It was getting harder to shut out my emotions. Finally, due to a combination of dizziness, the throbbing pain in my head, and sheer loneliness, I sank into a heap on the floor and let a single tear fall down my cheek. I wiped it away furiously with the sleeve of my leather jacket. I hadn't cried since… I couldn't even remember the last time I cried. But suddenly, I couldn't stop myself. I buried my head in my hands and let out a low moan.

_In… out…_ _in… out…_

There was a knock at the door. I quickly scrubbed at my eyes, removing all traces of tears, and tried to pull myself together. "Come in," I said, in what I hoped was a disinterested voice.

It was Mrs. Flowers, escorted by those two whiny little human girls, Bonnie and Meredith, carrying a tray laden with human food. As she set the tray down on the floor, I inspected its contents with low expectations. It looked like pig shit. I scowled.

"What do you want?"

"Damon…" Bonnie sighed. "We just… wanted to see how you were…" She smiled. Bonnie was always pathetically optimistic. I wanted to say, _I feel like shit, what do you think? _I wanted to tell her to leave me alone,but even I couldn't be mean to Bonnie. That would be like kicking Bambi in the face. Instead, I smiled back. She asked again, "How are you feeling?"

"Great… just great." I replied sarcastically. Not wanting to discuss my feelings, I changed the subject quickly. "How's Stefan?"

Meredith chuckled dryly. "Pissed off, totally irrational… he's acting like a two-year-old."

For the first time since today's events, I laughed. "Sounds like Stefan."

"I've never seen him like this before," Bonnie added.

"Well, getting his humanity back meant a lot to him…" Meredith said, glaring pointedly at me.

I sighed. "Don't look at me like that Meredith, how was I supposed to know? Believe me, Stefan's not the only one who's severely pissed off about the whole thing."

"That's funny," Meredith retorted, "I thought you didn't have feelings."

Mrs. Flowers, who had been standing in the doorway for some time, now stepped in and grabbed Meredith firmly by the wrist. "There's been enough fighting for today, dear," she said wearily. Meredith nodded slowly, shooting one last glare at me before leaving the room.

Mrs. Flowers turned to look at me. "What happened to your head?" she asked. She must have seen the blank expression on my face because she began fumbling around in her pockets and eventually produced a mirror. A quick glance at my reflection told me that there was a hideous grayish purple bruise on my forehead, from when I had been smashing it against the wall. I pressed my forehead gently with my fingertips. It hurt to touch.

"That's a nasty bruise you've got there," Mrs. Flowers pointed out (unnecessarily). "Don't worry, I've got some herbal remedies that can help. I always keep a few ointments and things in by basement, just in case. Back in a minute," She turned and shuffled out of the room, leaving me alone with Bonnie.

Bonnie broke the silence first. "So…" she began, leaning back against the wall and letting herself fall to the ground slowly. I found myself trying not to laugh. "So…" I repeated. Bonnie took a deep breath, prompting me to realize I had forgotten to breathe myself. I quickly tried to get some air into my lungs the way Sage had taught me. "Sorry…" I panted. "I'm still getting used to the whole… breathing… thing."

She smiled nervously. "I'm sorry, Damon." She said.

"Why?" I asked blankly. "It's not your fault."

"I mean, earlier. For laughing at you. I didn't mean… You know. I… Never mind." she stammered. She picked up a cake from the tray and held it out towards me. "You going to eat this?" she asked.

I shrugged.

"Well if you're not going to I will…" she teased, waving the cake in front of my face. I took a miniscule bite just to please Bonnie, and found it didn't taste any better than it looked. However, it did ease the gnawing emptiness in my stomach, so I took another bite. Bonnie grinned, clearly satisfied. She picked up a cupcake from the tray and happily tucked in. She finished hers before I was even halfway through mine, which tasted like it was made of cardboard. Seeing the look on my face, she laughed and took a large bite from it. "Don't tell me you don't like cupcakes," she said, her voice slightly muffled by her large mouthful of food. "That's just…" she shook her head, "…Weird." She swallowed. "So, when you were… you know, I mean, didn't you eat normal food?"

"Blood is… _was,_ all I needed to sustain me, but of course I did try 'normal' food over the years. I have to say, I do have a bit of a food fetish for oranges…" I grinned at her, mirroring her defiantly cheerful expression. "You're funny…" she giggled. I leaned back against the wall and sighed. "You know, you're alright… for a human."

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**... Oh dear. It got so very fluffy near the end :L**


	2. Do You Ever Just Want To Scream?

**Wow thanks for the response to chapter 1, love you guys ****Shout outs to BamonLove321, Bec-e and x-RandomChick-x for being the first to favourite my story and to SuperFunkyGirl1 for being awesome. **

**And before you start Livvy, I will update your story soon, but I have been keeping the lovely Vampire Diaries people waiting more than a month now, so this is kind of a priority right now ****GAHHH THIS IS SO LATE :/ Thanks for hanging around, if you did **

**Forgot to add, I do not own Vampire Diaries or any of the characters or places, I am ashamed to say however I do own this sorry excuse for a plot :P **

**Ok, I will stop my random musings and get on with Chapter 2 now 3**

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*Meredith's POV*

I had to say it, I almost felt bad about picking a fight with Damon. Almost. I could understand why he was so pissed off, but I couldn't forget that he was – _had been_ a vampire, until recently. I couldn't forgive some of the things he'd done.

Not to mention he was _such _a pain in the ass. He was probably still sulking in his room with Bonnie, milking it for all it was worth while she made a fuss over him.

Stefan was always the one who held everything together, but now his brother had finally driven him completely insane, it looked like everything was falling apart. I needed someone to talk to, someone sane. I wished Alaric was here. He would know what to say, and what to do to make everything better. And if he couldn't make it better, he could at least make me _feel _better. After all, he was the one thing in my life that hadn't completely turned upside down.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I realized I hadn't even looked at it for weeks while I was in the Dark Dimension. As the screen lit up, I saw that I had sixty-two missed calls, mostly from Alaric and my parents. I guess it showed they cared about me…

I quickly dialed Alaric's number, the only number I knew off by heart. He answered almost immediately.

"Meredith?" Oh God, I needed to hear his voice so badly. I smiled.

"Yes, it's me." I tried to sound cool and composed like a news reporter, but I just burst out laughing. It felt good to laugh after weeks wondering whether or not I was even going to live to see him again. "I'm home!" I sighed. "Oh, it's so good to talk to you! You have no idea… everything's gone completely crazy around here."

I could hear him chuckling softly. "So, you're back. I got your vague little message, _'I have to go away for a while… we have to go to the Dark Dimension, to find Stefan…It's a long story. I'll call you when I can._'" He sounded so much like me, it was almost scary. "So why didn't you call?"

"Well sorry, but the reception's pretty bad in… _another dimension?"_ I could hear the sarcasm in my own voice, and I could hear him stifling another laugh. He quickly tried to disguise the laugh as a cough. I could hear someone whispering in the background and his muffled voice saying "… Yes, I know, I'll tell her…"

As soon as he said those words, I could feel a sense of gathering dread building inside me. It was a common feeling these days. "Alaric…? What are you going to tell me? I know you. You wouldn't call me sixty-two times just because you miss me. I know you're not clingy like that. Something's wrong, isn't it?" As soon as I said the words out loud, everything fell into place. I knew what he was going to say, but I just didn't want to hear him say it. I'd heard those words too many times.

"Meredith, I won't be coming back to Fell's Church any time soon. I don't even know if I ever will again. I'm sorry… it's not you, it's me. I just… need some time. The research I've been doing here with Sabrina, it's amazing. Researching paranormal activity… it's my life-"

"Really?" I interrupted him. "because we've got plenty of paranormal activity here. You know, there's a sadistic kitsune and his evil band of malach, hell bent on destroying our town. Or are you so in love with her you've forgotten that?"

I bit my lip, waiting for his answer. But I didn't need one. His silence told me I'd guessed right.

"Meredith…" he sighed. "I'm sorry. I love her; I want to stay with her. It's not your fault. But my life is here. With Sabrina. I can't lie to you anymore."

"But we need you, Alaric. _I_ need you. You went out there to research kitsune so you could help us. We need you _here._" I couldn't keep the desperation out of my voice. "Please. I… I love you. You're the only thing in my life that's keeping me sane."

Alaric sighed. "Please, don't try to make me feel worse than I already do. One day you'll understand, Meredith. One day you'll find someone you love so much, you won't listen to anything anyone else says. You just can't keep yourself away from that person."

I clenched my teeth, blinking back the tears. "But that person was _you,_ Alaric! I love you."

"Your life is just beginning, Meredith. You'll find someone else."

And then he was gone.

Forever? Quite possibly.

I glanced at the phone in my hand. My wallpaper was the picture I had taken of us together just before Alaric had left. I looked so happy. Now, looking at my past self, all I felt was bitter regret. I clenched my fists and threw the phone at the wall. It broke with an ear-splitting crack, and shards of glass scattered across the room.

I was totally livid. _You'll find someone else?_ He had no right to say that. Not when he had been lying to me for weeks. Of course I'd known about his research with Sabrina. Of course I'd had my doubts. But knowing I had been right made it ten times worse.

I didn't hate him. I couldn't hate him. I hated myself – for depending on him, for trusting him, for still loving him, even now.

I took one last look at my phone – ex-phone – lying on the floor, and walked out of the room. I looked down the grubby, poorly lit hallway. So much had happened since yesterday. _Was it only yesterday – _we were getting ready to go to Blodeuwedd's ball, not even sure if we would make it out alive, let alone find the key and rescue Stefan. But, despite everything, we made it. All of us. And we had been so happy, just being alive. And now, these walls held so many bad memories for everyone. I had lost the person I wanted to spend my life with, Stefan had lost his fucking mind, and Damon was acting like a little kid who had just lost his pet hamster.

A little further down the corridor, a door creaked open slowly, and Bonnie's tiny frame peeked out from the doorway. She looked from left to right, and then smiled when she saw me. I sighed, tried to bury my feelings and smiled back. I slowly sauntered towards her, turning my smile into an ear to ear grin. I wouldn't let anyone see me cry. I wouldn't show the world that my heart was breaking inside.

"Where have you been?" she asked cheerfully.

"Oh…" I paused, "just… letting off some steam somewhere."

"You were pretty pissed at Damon, huh?"

"Yeah… I just needed some air. How is he? Has he managed to ruin anybody else's life in the space of five minutes?"

Bonnie opened the door a little so we could just see what was going on. Damon was sitting on his bed with an anguished expression on his face, and Mrs Flowers appeared to be pressing some sort of herbal poultice against his forehead.

She giggled. "I'm not going to ask," I sighed.

"That's probably a wise choice," she smirked.

"Honestly," I said, "He's just milking it now. So he's human like the rest of us?" I shrugged. "He can just get used to it."

There was a growl from the other side of the door. "You know, I can hear everything you're saying?"

Bonnie burst out laughing, and ran off down the hallway. I followed her. When we were alone, she said, "Seriously Meredith, I think you should cut him some slack. He's alright."

I raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "He's _alright? _Bonnie, he's a sadistic asshole. Don't you remember when he just left us to die in that car?"

"He was_ possessed, _OK? He's better now."

"Better?" Then I realized. "Bonnie McCullough, please tell me you're not crushing on him."

She stared at me, wide- eyed in shock for a second. "Of course not…"

But I could tell she was thinking, _How did you know?_

I rolled my eyes. "You're a terrible liar, Bonnie."

"He just needs a friend right now, OK?"

"_Don't_ be his friend, Bonnie. You don't really think you can trust him, do you?

"But-" she looked like she was going to cry.

"Seriously Bonnie, stay away from Damon. I know you like him, and you think that just because he's human he's suddenly a saint, but he'll only hurt you. He'll never care about anyone more than himself. All men are the same - they only want one thing, and when they've got it, they run off and break your heart."

Bonnie was biting her lip, like she always did when she was upset. "That's – that's a horrible thing to say."

With folded arms, I sat down in the empty armchair in the corner of the room. "It's the truth."

Her brown eyes filled with tears, and she turned and ran out of the room.

There was a knock at the window. I turned around abruptly, to see the one person I _really _didn't want to see right now. Sage was perched on a tree branch, with his usual smug expression on his face.

Reluctantly, I opened the window and frowned at him. "How long have you been there?"

He smiled. "Long enough, _belle amie._" In one graceful leap, he moved from the tree branch to the middle of the room and bowed at an imaginary audience.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Show-off."

He sauntered over to the armchair, like he did this sort of thing all the time. "Mind if I sit down?"

"Yes." I said exasperatedly, but he sat down anyway. I sighed and leaned back against the wall. After a long pause, he said, "You don't seem… yourself today."

I narrowed my eyes. "You clearly don't know me."

He raised his eyebrows. "What is it with you and Damon?"

I sighed, feeling deflated. "It's not about Damon."

"Then… what?"

I shook my head, not wanting to discuss my tragic love life with _Sage. _"I don't know. Why do I always have to be the rational one? The one that holds it all together? Even when I just want to fall apart and die…"

I stopped, suddenly finding myself blinking back the tears again. But I didn't want anyone to see me cry, least of all Sage. "Don't you ever feel like you just want to _scream?_" I asked him.

He didn't say anything for a while, he just sat there and looked me up and down. Then, finally he leaned forward, lowered his voice so he was almost whispering, and uttered the words, "Why don't you?"

"What?"

"Scream." He said simply. "Why don't you?"

"I just – can't." I let a single tear fall down my cheek. (How I hated myself for crying in front of him!) "If I let them see me upset, or angry, it's like saying _Yeah, I'm weak. Come and take advantage of me. _I've never let anyone see me cry, not ever._"_

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Never were words so true… But you, you are human. Your heart is so fragile, so easily broken. But it's the people we love that get us through these things. There is nothing wrong with having feelings. It's what makes you human. You may think you'll never love anyone else quite like him, but you're young, and time will heal everything in the end."

I gasped, stunned. "How did you-"

"Vampires," Sage smiled, "have excellent hearing. And also, when you're as old as I am, you learn a thing or two about human emotions. You can easily tell when somebody is hurting inside." He placed a hand on my shoulder, which totally infuriated me, but I made no effort to push him away. He continued, "I know you want to hold everything together, but you're tired of being the one who stays calm in a crisis. And I know you're acting like you're angry with the world because the only person you blame is yourself. And I know this isn't your fault. I know you, Meredith."

I could feel more hot tears behind my eyes threatening to spill down my face. But this time I didn't fight them. I started to cry, and he threw his arms around me and hugged me until I stopped crying.

When I had finished, I backed away, feeling slightly embarrassed. "You… won't tell anybody, will you?" I sniffed slightly. "I don't want them all making a fuss over me. Especially Bonnie, she'll go mental."

Sage shook his head indignantly. "Of course not. But I think you need to face your fears yourself, Meredith."

I turned and walked towards the door. Just before I walked out, I said softly, "I think I already have."

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**Phewwww ****That took me long enough to write !**

**Serious angsty-ness going on here! If you are Team Malaric, I'm sorry, but I had to break them up, I love Meredith and Sage together, hence mushy chapter **

**XxX Please review!**

**Ps. Sorry there wasn't a lot of Bamon in this chapter (well none at all really) but I promise there will be some in the next chapter and a much less fluffy ending :P**


	3. Why Can't I Shut Out The Feeling?

**I do not own Vampire Diaries etc. etc.**

**Love to all you guys who reviewed **

**I know last chapter didn't have much Bamon in it, but I just had to have some implied Meredith/Sage 3**

**Anyone read Midnight yet? (if you didn't know it came out this week) AMAZING! I just read the first few chapters, it's completely mental (in a totally awesome way) And completely different from this story as well, which I guess makes it an AU story. I'll have to put that in the summary…**

**I'm bored of setting the scene now, shit goes down in this chapter :)**

**MUAHAHAHA… *ahem***

**So on with chapter 3!**

*Bonnie's POV*

I could feel the tears, burning and stinging the back of my eyes as Meredith's words echoed in my mind. She had been so on edge all day, but what she had said was so mean. I had never thought she was like that. She always spoke her mind but this time she was going way too far. Well I wasn't going to let _her_ tell me what to do. I stormed down the stairs and went out into the garden, slamming the door behind me, ignoring the stunned expression on Elena's face as she stood in the hallway, speechless.

I walked disconsolately along Mrs. Flowers' perfectly trimmed hedges and rose bushes, until I reached the bottom of the garden, where was a perfectly neat row of oak trees, where the bottom of the garden met the Old Wood. I darted round one of the trees and simply hid behind its thick trunk and suddenly found myself crying hard. I buried my head in my hands and tried to block out the world around me.

But Meredith's words were still echoing in my mind. Could there have been truth in them? Of course I liked Damon. He made me laugh, and he was totally gorgeous. And when we first met, he had kissed me and made me go weak at the knees. But things had changed since then. I wasn't some naive little girl any more. And Damon wanted Elena. That was obvious. So why was he suddenly being nice to me?

But of course. I was just his backup, now that Stefan was back in the picture and Elena was back to ignoring him. Meredith was right. Damon didn't want me. It was like she said – he only cared about himself. I was just so sick of being second best to Elena. But Meredith was my friend too, and she just didn't want to see me get hurt. Maybe she was right. I had to stay away from Damon.

I cried harder. I didn't _want _to stay away from him, but Meredith made a valid point. He would break my heart, and him becoming human was not going to change that. Becoming human wouldn't change Damon. Maybe it was for the best.

I tried to pull myself together, shaking my head and rubbing my eyes sleepily. I got up and was about to turn back to the boarding house when I heard a noise behind me – a soft crunching sound, like footsteps on dry autumn leaves and the sound of heavy breathing. My heart skipped a beat for a second, as I wondered whether Shinichi had dared to show his face round here again, when turned around sharply I realized my imagination was just working overtime again. It wasn't Shinichi I was standing face to face with. It was Damon.

"There you are." He smiled for the first time since I could remember, but his expression changed when he saw my face. My eyes must have still been red from crying. Damon raised one hand and gently removed a stray lock of hair from my face. Just touching him made me feel weak at the knees, but Meredith's words kept coming back to me, and I didn't feel the excitement I usually did when I was with him. There was just empty despair. I tried to blink back the tears, hoping I wouldn't break down in front of him. Now that would be awkward…

"What's wrong?" he asked. He almost looked genuinely concerned.

"Nothing… it's just something Meredith said." I sighed.

He narrowed his eyes. "Whatever it is she said, you seemed pretty upset about it."

I shrugged, trying to avoid making eye contact with him. "It's not important. It's just Meredith… being Meredith I guess. She's looking out for me… in her own weird way."

Damon rolled his eyes, and flashed his dazzling smile again. "I'm not going to ask," he said at last.

I nodded in approval. "It's complicated." I said. Quickly searching for a way to change the subject, I added, "How's your head?"

"Better." He nodded slowly, his face still totally unreadable. I had never been able to tell what Damon was thinking, but I could tell he was about to say something. He took a deep breath and said softly, "I just wanted to thank you… For – just for being there I guess. I'm hating every minute of being human. Stefan and the others all think I did it on purpose, that I 'stole his humanity' just to piss him off… Like I wanted this! They hate me, don't they?"

I didn't say anything, but I didn't have to. He gave a short, humourless laugh. "You know what the weirdest part is, Bonnie? I actually care what they think. How did that happen?"

"It's just part of being human, Damon."

He shook his head. "Even before I became a vampire, I never cared what anybody else thought of me. But now…" Damon trailed off into silence. He looked away and started running his fingers through his hair awkwardly. "What I meant to say was… your friendship means a lot to me."

I swallowed nervously. I could tell there was some sort of hidden meaning behind this conversation. Why didn't he just say what he meant? "As long as that's all this is," I cautioned him. "Friendship."

He fixed his black eyes on me and gave me a wicked, wolfish grin. "Of course," he said, in a tone that implied, _Of course not… _

I suddenly realized how close we were. His face was mere inches from mine. I jerked my head back sharply but I couldn't move back any further, as I was right up against a tree. When I looked back at Damon he was closer still, and in an instant his lips were crushed against mine, kissing me with more force than I could imagine an ordinary human could manage. He took a shuffling step forward so that my back was pressed firmly against the tree. I tried to push him away, but Damon was still stronger than me, and he seemed too lost in the kiss to care anyway.

I had dreamed about this moment, of course. But somehow the picture I painted in my mind seemed a lot more romantic than it was in reality. I guess that was always the case. But right now Damon running his tongue playfully over my firmly closed lips and his hands all over my body seemed more _frightening _than sensual. Like he was forcing me to do something I didn't want to. It was all moving too fast. I had to get out of this. And, fuck it, I needed some _air_. I took hold of his slender wrists firmly, finding a surprising amount of strength in my tiny hands, and shoved him as hard as I could. To my surprise, it worked. He staggered back a few paces, managed to stop himself from falling over just in time, and looked down at me, looking a little hurt. When I looked at his usually impossibly pale face I could have sworn he was blushing.

"What the _hell, _Damon?" I yelled. "That was totally…" I buried my face in my hands, lost for words. When I looked up again I saw he was also trying to avoid making eye contact with me. His head fell forward slightly so that his black hair formed a sort of veil over his face, shielding whatever he may have been thinking from me.

"Bonnie…" he murmured softly.

"I don't… want to hear it…" I said wearily, finding myself near tears again. "Please just leave me alone."

"Bonnie, I really… really-"

"What? You _love _me?" I stared at him, incredulous. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. That was enough of an answer for me. "Don't try that one on me, Damon. Elena might fall for it but…" I sighed. Damon's whole body seemed to tense at the mention of Elena. "I know you don't love me, Damon. You just want somebody to… screw around with now that Elena's back with Stefan."

I regretted those last words as soon as I had said them. If I had thought he looked hurt before… His eyes were wide with shock and his mouth hung slightly open. In that split second I could tell exactly what he was thinking and feeling. And it scared me.

Damon shook his head slowly. He looked like there was something he wanted to say, but he simply brushed past me without another word, and ran off into the Old Wood. When I found that the tears would no longer come, I turned and walked back to the boarding house.

*Damon's POV*

_Why can't I shut out the feeling?_ I wondered. _I don't want to feel pain. I don't want to care what she thinks. _But I couldn't just close my eyes and make the emotions go away. I couldn't change how I felt about Bonnie, as much as I hated myself for it. There were large parts of my memory I wanted to block out, the last five minutes included. But I had to deal with it all now.

When you carry around five hundred years' worth of pain, it's only a matter of time before you crack.

I felt like such an idiot for letting human desires like sexual attraction overcome me. It was such a _human_ weakness. I was so blinded by self-loathing I could barely think straight.

_I'm in love with her. I love her more than anything…_

_And now she doesn't want to know me._

_I've ruined everything. I always ruin everything. And now these stupid fucking thoughts and feelings that I couldn't block out! I sounded like such a human. I hated even the sound of the word. Human. It made me want to curl up and die in a hole._

I'll admit I wasn't handling being human very well. But right now I was more concerned about Bonnie. I was pretty sure – no, I _knew_ – I loved her, despite everything, despite how I had felt about Elena not so long ago. I had always cared about Elena, but now I realized that the whole stealing-Elena-from-Stefan thing had just been another way to piss off my brother, another rebellion. I cared deeply for Elena, but only in the way that I cared about Stefan: she was like family to me. On the other hand, the way I felt about Bonnie… That was something I hadn't felt for over half a millennium. It wasn't superficial. It wasn't about blood or sex or Power or anything like that. I really did love her. I just needed to convince her.

"I… love… Bonnie," I whispered to myself. I liked the way those words sounded. I had to stop myself from grinning like an idiot (or a _human_).

I turned around, realizing I had gone pretty deep into the Old Wood. The trees grew closer together here and the lights of the boarding house were tiny specks in the distance. Night was falling now… or was it just the trees blocking out the light?

I shouldn't have come here. For all I knew, there could have been malach behind every tree. I quickly tried to send out a wave of Power, a warning to whatever may be hidden in those shadows. But I couldn't, of course. I had come here completely powerless, a vulnerable human, when I knew all too well how dangerous it was. I heard a sharp _crack_ behind me, and cursed yet another human weakness – fear.

I clenched my fists and looked around sharply, but I could barely see, thanks to my crappy human eyesight. And – _I could have sworn that tree wasn't there before._ Where, just a minute ago, I had been able to see the lights of the boarding house quite clearly, there was now a thick tree branch, almost blocking out the specks of light in the distance. I quickly shoved my way past the tree and ran, as fast as my stupid human legs would carry me – which wasn't really that fast – only to find myself tripping over a gnarled tree root and landing flat on my face. _If I was a vampire, that could have been avoided,_ I thought bitterly, cursing my deteriorated eyesight and reflexes. There was a sharp pain in my ankle. When I looked at it I realized I must have twisted it pretty badly as it was now caught in the tangle of roots. But it almost felt as if the assortment of roots and branches was grabbing onto my leg, pulling on it as I tried in vain to get back on my feet. Just days ago I would have been able to break the branches with my bare hands but now they seemed impossibly strong. There were already vines creeping up my other leg.

Suddenly I remembered something. A memory from before Elena and I had left for the Dark Dimension. My memory of those days was somewhat hazy, but there was an image in my head that I didn't want to think about, that made me shake with fear, which of course made it harder to get out of my head – when I had found Elena in the Old Wood, badly injured, close to death, and completely covered in creepers and vines. They had curled themselves all around her frail body and were strangling her. She would have died if I hadn't found her.

But nobody was going to find me, I realized. The plants would crush me in their grip, and I would die like the powerless human I was. There were tendrils and vines creeping up my arms and back, forcing me to the ground, face down so that I was struggling to breathe. I felt another sharp shooting pain go all the way up my leg, like a thorn piercing my flesh. But, I realized with sudden despair, the thorns were like hypodermic needles, probably pumping some sort of hideous poison into my blood at his very moment. I let out a cry of agony as the pain heightened. _I'm going to die,_ I thought. _There are no two ways about it. I'm going to die._ The plants had almost completely obscured me now, pressing my head down into the earth so that it was near enough impossible to breathe. I felt so light-headed… I was struggling to resist the desperate urge to close my eyes…

I couldn't fight it anymore. I let my body go limp in the clutches of the roots. For a few blissful moments, everything was mercifully still. My eyelids flickered open and shut twice before the dizziness overpowered me and I let them close.

* * *

**That was a dramatic one... O.o**

**PS, Don't worry, he's not really going to die, there's still loads more Bamon goodness to come... Just later on in the story. Stuff gotta happen first (Teehee). Next chapter coming soon.**

**Review! (Please)**

**Sara Maria **

**XXX**


	4. Pretend Games

**So happy to read your reviews by the way, for some reason it really makes me smile when people quote my story back at me :)**

**And please review again, it would make my week! X 3**

**Anyways sorry this is so late. I majorly suck… But in my defence I HAVE been in hospital this week with an infected thumb (trust me, this is more painful than it sounds and the bandage makes it hard to type as well :'( …)**

**Should probably add I don't own Vampire Diaries… After reading about some drama with LJ Smith getting sacked by her publishers for some reason, I'm not actually sure who owns Vampire Diaries at the moment.**

**But Enjoy!**

**xxDaRkxSoUlxx :)**

*Bonnie's POV*

Back at the boarding house, Damon had been gone for hours now. Nobody seemed to have noticed that he was even gone. They seemed more worried about Stefan, who nobody had seen since this morning, when he went off in a hissy fit.

This morning suddenly seemed like years ago. So much had happened since then… I had fallen in love, and out again. I had said things I regretted the minute I'd said them. I felt like I was going crazy. We all were. Elena, Meredith and Matt were all in the front room talking about Stefan and wondering where he might be. I think Elena was still trying to reach him telepathically.

I was still upstairs in my room. I couldn't face any of them right now, especially not Elena. Not after everything I had said. I felt like an idiot. Did Damon really love Elena? Did Elena love him? I really didn't know the answers to those questions, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to. And then there was the other question, the one that I was trying to block out from my mind. _Do I love Damon? _I know what Meredith would say, calm reliable Meredith who always said what she thought. I could just picture her in my mind, saying, _"Well, would you really feel so guilty for giving him an earful if you _didn't_ care about him?" _But Meredith had made it perfectly clear what she thought of Damon.

And I had taken it to heart of course. I always take everything too seriously. I was stupid and scared, _so fricking scared,_ of getting my heart broken that I had pushed him away. But if Meredith was right, and he didn't care, why was he avoiding me now? I sent out a thought to him, as clearly as I could. _Damon… Please come back. Where the hell are you? I need to talk to you. Please._

And I listened.

I listened for at least ten minutes.

I was concentrating all my energy on trying to reach him And… nothing.

Still nothing.

_Where the hell are you?_

I waited. I listened. I closed my eyes. I could just about feel Damon's mind on the other end, but he was clearly blocking me out. Normally I could at least catch the general drift of what he was thinking, but now it was like running into a wall of noise. It was hard to describe, sort of like a low vibrating hum – in my mind I called it a "red noise". He clearly had no interest in what I had to say.

I tried projecting another thought to him, as loud and clear as the red noise that was blocking Damon's own thoughts from me. _Fine, then. Be like that. You think I'm going to mope around waiting for you to come back?_

And with that I opened my eyes, banished all thoughts of Damon from my mind and headed back downstairs, feeling angry, confused and tired. Meredith, Sage, Matt, Elena and Mrs. Flowers were all lounging around the fireplace in the front room. As soon as I entered the room, I could feel all five pairs of eyes turned to look at me. In true velociraptor sisterhood style, the Elena was instantly at my side, arms around my shoulders and hugging me generally making a fuss over me. I must have looked pretty damn miserable. Meredith and the others were sort of hanging back awkwardly. She must have been regretting the things she had said too.

"Bonnie, are you OK?" Elena asked, while caught somewhere between hugging me and suffocating me. "You seemed really upset earlier."

"It's been a crazy day…" I sighed. "Everything's just getting to me…"

Well that part was true.

I blushed all over. Elena was being so sweet, but not so long ago I was thinking all sorts of things about her, hating her because of how Damon felt about her. I couldn't hate her now when she was acting all caring and concerned. I hugged her back gently and instead focused all my anger on Damon, his cold, "couldn't-care-less" act, and his way of talking that was always inadvertently cryptic, never saying what he really meant.

Suddenly remembering Elena was in possession of some sort of telepathy, I quickly checked I wasn't projecting my thoughts too loud. Thankfully, she hadn't pulled away from the hug, or appeared to react in any other way. I made my way over to the couch by the fireplace and abruptly changed the subject.

"Anyway," I sighed, "Enough about me, where's Stefan got to? He's been gone pretty much all day…"

As I turned to look out the window, I could tell everyone was thinking what I was thinking: _It's getting dark now. It's not safe._ Elena looked worried and started biting her lip with her two front teeth, as she always did when she was nervous. "I haven't seen him or heard from him since this morning…" she murmured softly.

Mrs. Flowers gently took hold of Elena's hand. "He'll come back, dear."

"No, you don't understand…" Elena shook her head slowly. "I've never seen him like this before. What if – what if…" She trailed off into silence, and her eyes – which right now could only be described as puppy dog eyes – filled with tears. We all crowded round her, hugging her and trying to comfort her.

"Oh, of course he'll come back…" I said soothingly. "He wouldn't go anywhere without you… I mean…well, not like… Look, he's probably just gone hunting or something."

Elena looked panic-stricken. "He's not strong enough yet!" she wailed. "What if…" She dissolved into tears again. Even _Sage_ was desperately trying to comfort her, and I could see Meredith looking at him with a sort of respect, a look she reserved for few people, least of all a vampire. Elena sighed, and scrubbed at her eyes with the palms of her hands. I thought it best not to mention that her make-up was all smudged. She rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry; I'm just getting all worked up over nothing… Of course he's coming back… He is coming back, isn't he?"

There was doubt in my own mind but when Matt placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and raised his eyebrows at me, I felt compelled to say, "Of course. Everything's going to be fine."

We all knew it wasn't true. But it was nice just to sit back and pretend it was for a while.

*Meredith's POV*

We all lounged around by the fireplace, chatting for a while. Elena was clearly comforted by Bonnie's words. Of course everything had changed now. Nothing was going to be _fine _any time soon. But we were all grasping at some form of normality to hold on to, which was why we had all agreed to forget about Shinichi and the disaster threatening our town for one night. We had our own problems, and it was fun to pretend we were just a normal group of friends in a totally normal town. Of course we all – well, at least _I_ knew- playing pretend games wasn't the wisest thing to do right now, but we're only human. Sometimes we need a break. It was kind of refreshing actually – I wasn't even thinking about Alaric, Elena – well Elena was probably thinking about Stefan, but at least she wasn't so worried anymore, and not even Bonnie had mentioned "the D-word." As for Sage, I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but he seemed to be making an effort to act somewhat normal – by his standards, anyway.

We sat in a circle drinking the tea Mrs. Flowers provided, talking about ordinary things like music, books, and what college we were planning to go to. Those ordinary things that would have bored the hell out of most people, but to us it was some sort of fun game. We could have talked about dull reality all evening, but at about nine thirty, we were interrupted by a short, sharp series of knocks at the door. Elena got up and bounded to the door like a kid on Christmas morning. We all happily followed her. "It's Stefan!" she called cheerfully. "Stefan's back!"

Stefan seemed to have regained some of his composure, but something in his eyes told me he was still pretty pissed off. He picked up Elena in his arms, kissed her softly on the lips, and set her back down on the ground. She sighed contentedly. He turned to look at Bonnie.

"I'm sorry about what I said, Bonnie. You too, Meredith. I was… out of line."

Bonnie grinned, trying to act cool, but within five seconds she was running over to him, squealing and hugging him.

"I stand by what I said, though." Stefan added darkly. "If I see my _brother,_ I will _fucking _murder him. Speaking of which, where is Damon?" He said his brother's name like it was some kind of food that disgusted him.

Bonnie looked uncomfortable. "I saw him earlier, out in the garden, but he ran off somewhere."

Elena rolled her eyes. "He'll be off sulking somewhere, no doubt. I'm just glad you're back, Stefan." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gazed at him adoringly, blinking those puppy dog blue eyes at him. Stefan smiled back, but he was still tense.

He seemed different. Today had certainly unleashed something darker in Stefan, something I hadn't seen before. He was being a bit of a dick over what had happened, but I definitely felt safer with him around. Stefan came to sit by the fire with us that night, playing the dull reality game with us. None of even gave a second thought as to where Damon was. Even Bonnie didn't seem to care about him at the moment. And she was so happy right now. We all were. I didn't want to trouble the others with the constant feeling of unease that was growing inside me.

…

**Sorry this chapter is so short and fluffy but: a) I haven't updated for ages and if I do shorter chapters I can update more often, and b) As for the fluffiness, I really couldn't have Bonnie and Meredith fighting, that's just cruel **

**Chapter 5 coming soon, please review ! XxX**


	5. The Lions Are Coming

**I don't own Vampire Diaries etc. etc.**

**If you reviewed, I love you, (especially because I know Chapter 4 wasn't that interesting and you were all like "I don't really care, where the f**k is Damon?" Well I would be… Well anyway this chapter will contain some Damon :D) PLEASE review this one?**

**Sara Maria XxX**

**On With Chapter 5! T'ings begin to get dramatic :)**

* * *

*****Bonnie's POV*

I crept down the dimly lit hallway, noting the time as I passed the clock on the landing. Nearly quarter to twelve. I should have been exhausted after such a crazy day, but for some reason my body refused to let me sleep. I didn't want to mention it to the others, but I was starting to worry about Damon. It felt like years since I'd last seen him, and I really needed to clear the air between us. To tell him that… I would always care for him, that I would always be there for him, but not in the way he wanted.

It could never work between us. I liked him, and he… Well Damon never talked about his feelings, but there was something there. Maybe, but then again, he would just break my heart in the end. If it wasn't Elena, there would always be someone else. I'm always everybody's second choice.

That didn't mean I wasn't allowed to have… a healthy concern for his safety, right?

He had been gone for hours, and it wasn't like him to just run away from things. I had to find him, even if it meant… going to the Old Wood. _Not_ something I was planning to do lightly. Quickly looking round to check I wasn't being followed, I tiptoed down the stairs, wincing every time they creaked, until, after what seemed like hours, I reached the bottom and slipped out the front door undetected.

When I reached the neat row of trees that marked out an invisible barrier between the garden and the Old Wood, I realized I was shivering. It was unusually cold for this time of year, and I was just wearing a lacy blue vest top and cute floral short shorts. I rolled my eyes. Now would have been a really good time to wear a dressing gown… maybe even some shoes? But I wasn't usually known for thinking things , it was too late to turn back now. If I went back to the comfort and safety of the boarding house, I knew I wouldn't have the courage to sneak out twice. It took practically all my willpower not to run straight back to the boarding house now, curl up in bed and forget everything. I closed my eyes, tried not to picture Damon being kidnapped by a certain sadistic kitsune, or cold and dead at the foot of a tree, and took the first tentative steps into the wood. That was how it went for the next ten minutes. Left foot… right foot… push away mental images of dead Damon… left foot… right foot… occasionally wipe away tears…

I was so on edge, turning around every time the wind whistled through the trees or I stepped on a twig. But the woods were eerily quiet and still. And there was no sign of Damon. I felt like I was going around in circles. Then suddenly, without warning, there was a blinding flash of hellish red light a few feet in front of me, and the same 'red noise' I'd heard when I was trying to contact Damon earlier. I quickly rushed forward, but after a couple of steps I found myself unable to move. Someone was grabbing me by the throat. All the fear and panic that had been building up since earlier today multiplied by a thousand, I screamed, kicking and flailing my arms wildly. I tried to look at my attacker, but… whoever it was, they were holding me too tight for me to move. I could feel hot breath on the back of my neck, and there was an inhuman growl startlingly close to my ear.

"Save your breath, darling, nobody will hear you…"

I bit my lip furiously, promising myself I wouldn't cry. The next thing I knew, I was being thrown face down in the mud while the anonymous attacker laughed maniacally.

"Stupid children… sitting in your cozy little house, trying to kid yourselves everything's going to be alright. Well I've got a message for you and your friends." He (it was definitely a male voice) crouched down and whispered mockingly in my ear, "The lions are coming. So you'd better run like hell."

I scrambled to my feet and turned around, face to face with my attacker for the first time, expecting to see Shinichi or one of his minions. 'Shocked' doesn't even begin to describe how I was feeling. Because I'd know that face anywhere, the narrowed eyes and self-satisfied smirk.

It was Damon.

"_Damon!"_ I screamed. "What the hell is going on?"

I could hear the distant sound of a clock striking midnight, getting louder and louder.

"Damon!"

"Bonnie?" The next thing I knew, Meredith was shaking me gently, and I was lying in my bed drenched in a cold sweat. "Bonnie?" she repeated. "Are you alright?"

The clock in the hallway was still striking midnight. I paused before I answered her question, as I finally put two and two together. "It was… just a dream…" I murmured softly. "Just a dream… But it felt… so real…" Meredith put an arm around my shoulder and hugged me as carefully and gently as if I was made of glass. I glanced over her shoulder to see Elena, Stefan, Matt, Sage and Mrs. Flowers all standing around my bed. As Meredith gingerly set me back down on the bed, Matt handed me a glass of water, which I gratefully accepted. I seemed to have woken up with a bit of a sore throat. He raised an eyebrow, clearly concerned. "Bonnie… you were screaming in your sleep."

"Oh!" I suddenly realized. "I woke you all up! I'm so sorry…" I felt like I was about to burst into tears.

Meredith sighed and put a hand on my shoulder again. "Oh Bonnie, as if we care about that… We _are_ worried about you though. Did you have a premonition?"

"No." I shook my head. "Just a dream. Just a bad dream…"

Meredith smiled. "I understand. It felt really real, didn't it?"

I nodded.

"Here." She handed me a soft, familiar object. It was my soft blue cotton rose-patterned dressing gown. "It's unusually cold for this time of year…"

I nodded again, wrapping it around my shoulders. "Thank you, Meredith. And thank you all for your concern. But I'm really, really tired. If you don't mind… I'd like to go to sleep now, please?"

Everyone obediently scuttled back to their rooms. Meredith flopped back into the bed next to mine. "Are you sure you want to go back to sleep? Are you going to be alright?"

I smiled sleepily. "I think I'll be alright." Satisfied, Meredith turned off the lamp on her bedside table and fell asleep almost instantly. How I envied her for that. Left to my own thoughts, I found myself more worried about Damon than before. I had been sure he was just sulking somewhere, feeling sorry for himself, but now he had been gone so long, I wasn't so sure.

_It was just a dream,_ I told myself. _Just a dream._

I just hoped like hell it wasn't a premonition.

_The lions are coming._

***The Next Day (or later that day I guess, considering she woke up at midnight?)***

***Meredith's POV***

Despite being woken up in the middle of the night by Bonnie's screaming, I woke up relatively early the next day. As the room around me came sharply into focus, I realized Bonnie was pacing around the room aimlessly. Her dressing gown hung loosely off her shoulders. She had dark circles under her eyes and the sort of wild-eyed expression on her face that would suggest she'd barely slept at all that night.

"Bonnie…" I mumbled, still half-asleep. "Go back to bed, please."

She turned to face me, biting her lip nervously. "I woke you up again, didn't I?"

I sighed. "No you didn't. Just don't worry about me. It's _you_ that needs some sleep."

Bonnie looked _horrified_ at the prospect of sleeping. "I _can't_, don't you get it? I'm scared of what I'll see."

I smiled at her fondly. "Look, if anything happens, just scream real loud and… I'll come wake you up. It's not real, Bonnie. You're safe here. Everything's fine, remember? At least for now…" I raised my eyebrows, wishing she would just play along and go back to sleep. I was starting to worry about her.

Bonnie looked at me like I was insane. "Everything is _not_ fine, Meredith! Am I the only one that's noticed? Damon's been gone all night, and we're just acting like he doesn't exist!"

I sighed, feeling guilty. In all honesty, we _had_ forgotten about Damon last night. I'd been so wrapped up in everything that had happened, what with, Alaric calling off our almost-engagement, and then Sage, of all people, comforting me, and having to hold everything together, like nothing had happened, I didn't really care about Damon. After all, it was his own fault he was human now. I'd thought he had just gone somewhere to wallow in self-pity, but Bonnie was more worried than the rest of us. She seemed to know something we didn't. "Bonnie… when was the last time you saw him?" I asked tentatively, trying not to sound like I was accusing her.

She looked uncomfortable. "Well…"

"Bonnie?"

"I… The last time I saw him… was yesterday afternoon. We might have… argued a bit. Then he just ran off. He went into the Old Wood, and he hasn't come back. Meredith, I think he's in trouble."

"Oh Bonnie, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

She looked wide-eyed and hurt. "Who would have listened? You were all pissed at Damon, and worried about Stefan."

"I'm sorry." As tears pooled in Bonnie's eyes, I practically leapt out of bed, across the room and hugged her again. I hated seeing Bonnie cry. "Bonnie, he will come back. I'm not sure how Stefan's going to react when he does, but… he'll have to come back some time."

"I know," Bonnie sighed. "I just worry about him. Don't look at me like that – we're just friends. He's not coping at all well with being human."

"You can say that again." I started to laugh. Then, realizing I was now wide awake, I checked the little clock on my bedside table. "Well, it's nearly six a.m. I don't see why we can't go downstairs and have breakfast now…"

When Bonnie started to laugh too, and I was satisfied there were no more tears in her eyes, I took hold of her hand, and gently pulled her towards the door. "Come on…"

She eagerly followed me downstairs, where, to our surprise, Mrs. Flowers was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking some sort of watery tea with an assortment of unidentified herbs floating in it. When she caught sight of us in the doorway, she smiled. "Good morning, my dears. Can I offer you some tea?"

It looked pretty disgusting, but I couldn't say no to Mrs. Flowers. She happily poured some more tea from what appeared to be a saucepan into a mug and handed it to me. "It's very good for calming the nerves, dear. Bonnie, I'm sure you could use some…"

But Bonnie shook her head. "Actually, Mrs. Flowers, I was wondering if I could have some Coco Pops?"

I stifled a laugh. "Bonnie, what are you, twelve?" I scoffed. But Mrs. Flowers obediently delved into one of the many kitchen cupboards and produced a box of Coco Pops.

Bonnie grinned. "Oh, Mrs. Flowers, is there anything you don't have in those cupboards of yours?"

"Not that I'm yet to discover, Bonnie dear." Mrs. Flowers sighed wearily. "I dare say we could all use some Coco Pops. How about you, Meredith?"

She knew me so well. "Go on then…" I said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Alright…" Mrs. Flowers got out three bowls from the same cupboard and lined them up in a neat row on the kitchen table. Then, suddenly, as Mrs. Flowers was filling the first bowl, there was a loud, insistent knock at the door. It sounded like someone was trying to break the door down. I gently put an arm around Bonnie, who stood rooted to the spot, eyes wide with fear.

"Meredith...?" she said. Her voice sounded so far away, like she was in trance. "Do you ever feel like the plates of the earth… just shifted?"

"Bonnie, the plates of the earth are always shifting. Didn't you learn anything in geography?" I was trying to lighten the mood a little, but I couldn't keep the fear out of my own voice.

The knock came again, louder this time. As we rushed into the hallway, Stefan, Elena, Matt and Sage came trailing down the stairs, looking like they hadn't slept much either. "What the – hell?" Matt mumbled sleepily. "Oh, I'll get the door then, shall I?"

"Matt, wait." I warned him. "It could be the police looking for you. You'd better stay out of sight."

The knocks were getting louder and more frequent. I could see there was a small dent in the door. Any minute now the door would collapse.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "I'll get it, alright?"

"But Bonnie…"

"What's the worst that can happen?" she sighed. And with that, she started, step by step, towards the door…

* * *

**Dramatic Music! I hate writing cliffhanger endings, but there is really no way I could fit all this into one chapter without writing an insanely long chapter, and it's been ages since I updated so I figured I'd kind of leave it hanging there. Sorry... Chapter 6 is coming soonish, but remember how slow I am… Anyways, I would LOVE to get some reviews? :D**

**If you review, I promise to read and review your stories… and if you haven't written any, I'll just give you a shout out on the next chapter… XxX**

**Oh dear, I appear to have resorted to bribery, ****WHAT HAS BECOME OF ME!**

**See ya later,**

**xxDaRkxSoUlxx**


	6. House of Horrors

… **I tried, and I managed to update within LESS THAN A WEEK? That's quite an achievement for me. I really hated leaving it hanging there so here we are. XD**

**Right You Lot, **

**Presenting Chapter 6,**

**And yes, I'm sure some of you were annoyed that chapter 5 was relatively Damon-free, as with chapter 4 before it, but this is what you've been waiting for. And yes, I mean Damon finally returns. And I don't mean in dream/hallucination/premonition(?) form, no, Damon RETURNS. And shit goes down. Quite seriously. (I must stop writing spoilery author notes at the **_**beginning**_** of the chapter…)**

**And by the way, SuperFunkyGirl1, I was not lying, but that will happen later in the story. **

**I could ramble on for a very long time, but I'm trying not to, as I figured you came here to read the story not listen to my endless ramblings… so I will S.T.F.U. now :D**

**So read on. And please review?**

**XxXxX**

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***Bonnie's POV***

_"What's the worst that can happen?" I sighed. And with that, I started, step by step, towards the door…_

I had the sudden worry that saying that was tempting fate, but it was too late to think about that. I placed a shaking hand on the door handle, and slowly pulled it open.

And stood, speechless, in the doorway.

It was definitely and unmistakably Damon. I could still see the faint bruise on his forehead from yesterday, along with a few other random scratches on his face, arms and legs.

"You… You have got some _serious_ explaining to do."

He said nothing; he just stepped into the doorway and casually shut the door behind him. He didn't seem to be looking _at _me but _through _me, as if I wasn't there.

"Damon…? Damon, we need to talk…" I said, remembering what I had been planning to say to him earlier. But words seemed to have escaped me. "…Damon?"

He turned to fix his cruel, expressionless gaze on me. "There is _nothing _to talk about," he whispered coldly. Then he shoved past me and stepped into the hallway.

Brilliant. It was as if nothing had happened. He was back to the way he was when I'd first met him. No, worse. At least back then he'd shown _some_ sign of emotion. Now he was acting like he barely knew me.

Elena seemed equally pissed off. "Damon…? Is that – You! Where the _fuck_ have you been?" she yelled.

"I don't… know," he said at last. I was standing behind him, so I couldn't see his face, but he sounded genuinely confused. "I can't… seem to remember."

"You've got some nerve, showing your face round here," Stefan piped up. "First, you steal my humanity…"

"Oh, for God's sake…"

"Then," Stefan continued, "You storm off like a sulky child, actually feeling sorry for yourself? Then you come and break the fucking door down at six a.m.?" His voice rose to a yell.

"Oh, leave me alone," Damon groaned. "My head hurts."

Stefan punched him in the face.

"You've been drinking, haven't you? I can't fucking believe this! Bonnie – poor Bonnie – was actually worried about you! She thought you were in some kind of trouble! She clearly doesn't know you as well as I do…"

"Stop it!" I shrieked. "Stop talking about me as if I'm not here!"

"Now look what you've done!" shouted Meredith, shoving past the squabbling brothers and coming to stand next to me.

"I think we all need to calm down, _mes amis_," Sage declared, with his usual air of authority. But Stefan and Damon seemed oblivious to what was going on around them.

"Just because you're human… that's no excuse to act like a fucking _child…_"

More and more people were trying to make themselves heard as the room gradually descended into chaos. Meredith and I said nothing, edging slowly further away from said descending chaos, when, in the corner of my eye, I noticed a trampled newspaper on the doormat. I hadn't noticed it earlier. It was a rather battered-looking copy of _The Fell's Church Post, _the local newspaper, with today's date on it. I crouched down and picked it up.

"Bonnie, what are you doing…?" Meredith asked, bemused, but I barely heard her. I took a closer look at the newspaper. The headline seemed to scream at me: DEATH TOLL RISES AS POSESSION FEARS GROW. I had to blink back the tears as I studied the article, recognizing name after name as my old high school friends that had either been possessed or killed.

"Hasn't Fell's Church been through enough?" came a whisper behind me. I realized Meredith had been reading over my shoulder.

"I _hate_ this. We need to work together to take down Shinichi, and how can we do that when…" I didn't need to finish that sentence. The chaos and yelling kind of spoke for itself. I listlessly turned the page… and froze in horror.

"Oh. My. God." I gasped. "Meredith, look."

Meredith followed my gaze, and I could hear her sharp intake of breath when she saw it. Right there, in the middle of the page, was a photo that seemed to be taken from some kind of CCTV camera. It was Fell's Church high street, at night, but the streetlamps bathed it in an eerie golden glow. The pavements were littered with dead bodies, all horribly mutilated. And in the middle of it all, one man stood surveying the damage around him. And he looked pretty damn pleased with himself. He was staring straight at the camera, head tilted to one side as if to say, _Well, isn't this fun? _He was slightly shorter than average height, with a tousled mess of black hair, and dressed all in black – black jeans, black leather jacket, black boots. And his eyes were glowing a hellish red.

"It… can't be," Meredith whispered.

"Damon." I nodded. "It's definitely Damon."

"But… This picture was taken _last night._"

"Shit."

I looked at the two brothers fighting in the hallway, then back at the picture. Then at Meredith. We simultaneously let go of the paper and came rushing into the hallway, where Stefan was still ranting at Damon, and Damon was starting to lose his patience. Any minute now…

"Stefan, get away from him!" I yelled.

Stefan looked up, confused.

"Stefan, he's _possessed!"_

At the sound of the word _possessed, _silence fell over the room instantly. In one sharp movement, Damon turned around to face us, staring at us with those wild red eyes.

"Fuck!" yelled Matt, dashing up the stairs as fast as his legs would carry him.

Elena screamed and hid behind Stefan. They quickly followed Matt upstairs.

Damon growled and rushed to the stairs, but Sage wrapped strong arms around his waist, restraining him. Damon kicked and thrashed his arms wildly, but to his frustration couldn't escape Sage's grasp.

"Damon!" Sage barked. "Can you hear me? Is there anything left of Damon in there?" He turned to me, Meredith and Mrs. Flowers. I found myself speechless. I couldn't take my eyes off Damon and his glaring red eyes. Mrs. Flowers seemed hopelessly out of her depth. It was Meredith who spoke up in the end. _Typical Meredith, _I thought, _staying calm even when the world comes crashing down around her ears._ "Sage, you won't get through to him. It's happened before. Once he's possessed… the – the malach can… take complete control of his mind whenever they want to. There's nothing we can do."

Sage didn't seem too surprised by this news. "In that case, _mesdames,_" he said, maintaining his usual air of calm and casual disinterest, "Since I can't restrain him for much longer… I suggest we run like hell."

"Good plan…" Meredith nodded. "Bonnie?"

"On three," I said breathlessly. "One… Two…"

On three, Sage threw Damon across the room so he landed with a spectacular crash against the wall on the other side of the room. In that instant, Sage scooped up the frail Mrs. Flowers in his arms, and ran. We all ran. Like _hell._ By the time Damon scrambled to his feet, we were halfway up the stairs. But Damon was fast, even in his weakened human state. He practically sprung up the stairs, crouched down on all fours like a rabid dog.

"Run!" Meredith squealed. We raced along the dark hallways, with Damon snapping at our heels.

"I can't run for much longer…" I panted. "Mrs. Flowers, is there anywhere we can hide?"

"Yes, just a little further, dear," she replied. She looked up at Sage. "Do you think you could do that - thing again?"

"Throw him across the room? With pleasure, _Madame Flowers." _He gently put her down on the floor, and, with a low growl, turned to face Damon, who was catching up with us fast. "What are you waiting for?" he growled, without turning around. "Run!" He grabbed Damon by the shoulders, and forced him, face down, to the ground, thought I could tell it was taking a lot of effort.

I could only watch in horror as Sage repeatedly kicked Damon in the head. I couldn't help feeling just a little bit sorry for him.

"_Madame Flowers,_ take the girls to your hiding place," Sage said urgently. "I'll be right behind you."

Mrs. Flowers took one of us by each hand and led us around a corner. When we had turned the corner we all ran on without a backward glance. Mrs. Flowers led us to the end of the hallway, where there was a wooden ladder propped up against the wall, leading up to a trapdoor in the ceiling. She glanced up the ladder with a look of pride on her face. "My humble attic," she whispered. "It's where I keep all my herbs and amulets for spells."

"Oh, Mrs. Flowers, you're a genius!" I cried, throwing my arms around her. I felt an overwhelming protective love for her. In the past few months, she had become like family to us.

"Not so loud, Bonnie, dear. He's only around the corner." Mrs. Flowers reminded me sharply. "Now, up here, quickly- and quietly…"

We all scrambled up the ladder as fast as we could. In a matter of seconds, Sage was behind us. "Pull the ladder up and shut the trapdoor – _now."_ he whispered. We obeyed him – quickly and quietly, just like Mrs. Flowers said. Below us we heard Damon's echoing footsteps as he came rushing around the corner – then stopped abruptly. "You can run, but you can't hide," he called in a singsong voice. And it wasn't Damon's voice. It was deeper, and colder and somewhat unforgiving. "So, it's a game of hide and seek you want, is it?" He was getting more and more irritated by the second. Then, after a long silence, we heard his footsteps again, this time fading away. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do you think he's gone?" Meredith asked nervously.

Mrs. Flowers shook her head. "He won't give up that easily. I suggest we stay put for the moment. The trapdoor's too high for anyone to get in without a ladder."

"Well…" I sighed, "I can't think of a better place to be trapped. Mrs. Flowers, you said this is where you keep all your herbs and whatnots?"

Mrs. Flowers nodded absent-mindedly. "Yes, that was rather what I was thinking, dear."

"So… you think there might be some kind of… I don't know, a spell or something? Some way to make him… come to his senses?"

"There must be… somewhere…" Mrs. Flowers began ransacking shelves, flicking through dusty old books.

Meredith and I ambled over to the shelves. "We'll help you, Mrs. Flowers…"

"-Meredith! You're hurt!" I gasped. I noticed she had a small cut on her wrist.

"It's nothing," she sighed. "I didn't even notice it. Probably a splinter from that damn ladder…" She trailed off into silence. She appeared to be looking at something behind me. As I turned around, I realized Sage had been standing right behind me.

"Sage!" I squeaked. "Don't do that! You scared the life out of me…"

Sage didn't even seem to hear me. He was staring intently at Meredith. Or, to be specific, the blood trickling from the cut on her wrist.

"Sage…? Are you feeling alright?" Meredith asked, concerned.

"Oh… never mind. It's nothing…"

"Sage?"

He sighed and sat down in a dusty armchair. "Alright then… It's Damon. He's strong. Almost as strong as me. I used a lot of Power taking him on today."

"But that's impossible." I raised an eyebrow. "He's _human!"_

"He's possessed, remember?" Meredith reminded me. "We have no idea what he's capable of." She wandered over to the armchair and sat next to Sage. "You need blood?"

She extended her arm. Sage looked flushed for a moment. "No, I couldn't possibly…" But in the end he gave in to temptation and licked the first few drops of blood from her wrist, then found himself sinking his fangs into one of her veins. Meredith didn't seem to mind.

"Oh, get a room, you two…" I muttered, going over to join Mrs. Flowers, who was now examining shelves full of jars, all containing dried herbs. Suddenly, there was a knock on the trapdoor, so loud and unexpected that I screamed.

"Calm down, dear," Mrs. Flowers said reassuringly. "He can't get in, remember? We're safe."

I heard an irritated voice from below. "It's _me,_ you idiots! Let us in!"

It was Stefan. I rushed to the trapdoor, and let down the ladder. Stefan climbed in, followed by Elena and Matt. Then, as quickly as I'd opened it, I pulled up the ladder and firmly shut the trapdoor.

"Oh, Bonnie!" Elena cried. She flung her arms around my neck in a half hug, half strangle. "You're alright! Oh, it was so awful… he was chasing us, and – and he nearly killed Stefan…"

"I'm fine…" Stefan insisted.

"Oh, and those eyes! It was _terrifying…_"

"Now wait a minute…" Meredith cut in. "Where _is _Damon?"

"I don't know, and I don't care." Stefan said stubbornly. "He'll come to his senses eventually, but for now we just need to…"

Stefan was interrupted by a loud thud on the elaborate stained-glass window. We all turned simultaneously and froze in shock to see Damon, perched on the windowsill. "I warned you…" he said with a sly grin. "You can't hide…" He knocked on the window again, and this time a large vertical crack appeared in the glass.

I felt near to tears again. "You said he couldn't get in. You promised!" I wailed.

There was another thud, followed this time by an ear-splitting crack as the window shattered and Damon burst in, red eyes wide, laughing manically, just like he had in my dream.

Mrs. Flowers was still hurriedly rummaging through shelves of herbs and oils.

"Hurry up!" I yelled, as Damon grabbed me by the throat so hard I could barely breathe. _I'm going to die, _I thought. _This is it, I'm going to die._

_Not just yet,_ came Mrs. Flowers' telepathic voice.

The next thing I knew, Damon was doubled up in pain on the floor, yelling and screaming, with smoke rising from his body. Mrs. Flowers triumphantly held up a half-empty vial of colourless liquid. "It's something old Mrs. Saitou gave me a while ago. It's for repelling _evil." _She glared at Damon. It was the first time I had seen Mrs. Flowers angry. I definitely didn't want to get on the wrong side of her.

"The effects won't last for long, though." she continued.

"I got it," Stefan said. He picked up one of the glass jars from the shelves and hit Damon round the head so hard that the glass smashed on impact. Damon cried out in pain for a few seconds then lay still.

"He's unconscious." Stefan declared.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"Take him down to the basement and lock him up." Mrs. Flowers ordered. "If he wakes up…" she handed Stefan the vial. "You know what to do."

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**Well that was a long chapter! *_***

**I think I'm going to go get some sleep now... Please Please Please Review! I like feedback :D**

**See you next time (hopefully another relatively quick update, I'll see what I can do)**

**Sara Maria XxXxXx**


	7. Drained

**No update for HOW LONG? Ok, so I majorly suck. Attempting to make up for it here with some Bonnie/Damon cuteness..? And I will try to update quicker next time :(**

**Also it was my birthday last week, and some reviews from you guys would be awesome! XD (Well as long as they're nice reviews. Or constructive criticism/tips for improvement. Or any feedback really…)**

**But anyways, before I get on with the much delayed Chapter 7, one more small favour to ask? I know I kind of owe you guys, but if you could go to my profile and check out the poll, I want to know which story you guys think I should write next. Summaries on my profile :D**

***Damon's POV***

I woke up, feeling dazed, confused and numb all over. It took me a few minutes to piece together my shattered memories of yesterday. I remembered becoming human… then Bonnie. I was talking to Bonnie. Damn, that was awkward. I was kissing Bonnie. But then it all went wrong. She pushed me away. She hated me. And then there was the Old Wood. The trees… they started _attacking_ me? The brambles – like needles.

I was going to die.

And then…

Then…

They stopped? They just stopped. They just let me go.

_Why?_

And then it was all just a blur from there. I must have ended up here, but I had no idea how. Or where _here_ was supposed to be.

As the feeling slowly returned to my body, so did the pain. I tried to get up, but was knocked back by a throbbing pain in my head. I let myself fall back down gracelessly on the hard concrete floor. The room was pretty dull, with bare brick walls, and the only visible window was partially obscured by metal bars. There was a metal door at the opposite end of the room with a small hatch in the top. I knew without trying that there was no way of opening the door.

"Is anyone there?" I called.

Within a split second, there was a scuffling sound and the hatch sprang open. There was a small hole in the door, just big enough to look through, but too small to escape through. It was also obscured by bars. So, it would appear I'd finally landed myself in prison, I guess. A face appeared at the hatch, but I couldn't be bothered to get up. My entire body seemed to be gripped by pain – an empty ache. Mocking me.

Still, I didn't need to get up to recognize the face. It was Bonnie.

"Bonnie?" I murmured, silently cursing the way my voice sounded so unsteady. "Where the hell am I?"

She didn't reply for a second. She looked almost _scared._

"Bonnie?"

She turned around, so all I could see was the back of her head and those strawberry-golden curls.

"_Bonnie!"_

"Sage!" she cried. "Sage, he's waking up!"

"Is someone going to tell me what the fuck is going on?"

Sage appeared at the hatch almost instantly, gently shoving Bonnie out of the way.

"Damon!" he yelled. "Damon, is that you?"

I looked around the room tentatively. There was nobody there. "Well, who else would it be?"

"Come here," he barked, using that tone he only reserved for people he was losing patience with.

"I can't… it – _hurts._" I insisted, but I forced myself to get up, despite my aching limbs. I staggered to the hatch, clinging to the wall so I wouldn't lose my balance again and make an idiot of myself. When I reached the door, Sage thrust a hand through the bars and grabbed me by the neck. He appeared to be _examining _me like a vet examining a rabid dog. Then he turned to Bonnie. "It's alright, _mademoiselle. _He's alright." He let go, letting me fall to the floor again without a second glance.

"You sure about that?" I said breathlessly.

Sage looked a little uncomfortable, something he hadn't done once in the 300 years I'd known him. "Bonnie will explain."

And then he was gone, leaving me alone with Bonnie.

"Well take your time, then," I muttered. Her secrecy was really starting to irritate me.

"Damon, do you remember… _anything_ that happened yesterday?" she said slowly. And I knew exactly what she was talking about. The part that I could remember, crystal clear. As if I'd forget. I nodded slowly.

"Why did you push me away?" I asked.

"Why did you throw yourself at me like that?" she replied disdainfully.

I paused for a second. "I know – I… wasn't _myself _yesterday. I was… over-emotional, and stupid, and… a whole list of words that weren't even in my vocabulary until yesterday. And - I know I was out of line."

Bonnie didn't deny it.

"And…?"

"And I'm not sorry. You should know that too."

"Neither am I," she replied expressionlessly.

"So… now that's _not_ resolved, are you going to tell me what the hell's going on?"

Bonnie sighed. "You mean… you have absolutely no idea what happened?"

I nodded. "As I've said. Repeatedly. No. I've got a splitting headache as well – I feel like I've been hit by the hangover train."

She was nibbling her lower lip nervously. "So… you don't remember _this?"_ Her face disappeared from view for a few seconds, then when she popped up again she shoved a battered-looking copy of some trashy local newspaper through the bars.

"Turn the page," she said shakily.

Disinterested, I scanned the contents of yet another article about the malach, the possession, the deaths. Nothing new, really.

"What's this got to do with - "

And then I turned the page.

And then I saw it.

Splashed across the page, a photo of me. Standing over what looked like hundreds of dead bodies, covered in blood.

I would have said _'Just an average day,' _but I wasn't a vampire anymore, and even if I was, I wouldn't have been stupid enough to get caught. I took a closer look at the photo, and realized my eyes were glowing blood red – and I had a feeling it wasn't just bad camera work.

"So…" I sighed.

"You're possessed, Damon." Bonnie pointed out unnecessarily.

"Yeah, I got that, thanks," I growled. "So, apart from going on a murderous rampage, is there anything else I got up to that I should know about?"

"Well… you came back here this morning, and I kind of noticed you were acting weird – but then when Stefan started being a dick, you sort of went crazy. And – well, we hid for a while, but then… oh, it was _terrifying!_ I thought you were going to kill me!"

My stomach dropped as dread started to creep into my mind.

"Bonnie? Bonnie, you're shaking." I dragged myself to my feet, and reached through the bars to hold her hand, but she flinched away from my touch. I took a step back, feeling hurt.

"It - it's nothing…" she whimpered, but I could see tears beginning to form in her eyes. I felt an overwhelming protective love for her. I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and keep her safe. But now she was scared of _me._ She needed protecting from _me._ I had never felt so utterly useless.

I reached forward again, and this time she didn't flinch. She let me gently remove a strand of hair from her face.

"Oh my God…" I whispered. I could see her perfectly clearly now. There was a row of reddish purple bruises running down her neck. As I reached out to stroke them, her face contorted with pain.

"I thought you were going to strangle me…" she said at last. She sounded so cold and detached. I wished desperately that I could have read her mind then.

"Wait – _I_ did this?"

A single tear fell down her cheek.

"I _hurt_ you? He made me hurt you… _Shinichi!"_ I roared, kicking the door with all the force I could.

"Damon, you're scaring me…" Bonnie wailed.

I let myself fall to the floor and placed my head in my hands. I could feel the tears stinging the back of my eyes, but I blinked them back furiously. I refused to let Bonnie see me cry. "Sorry…" I muttered.

"B-b-but you're back. That's got to be a good thing, right?"

"You know Shinichi. He won't be giving up that easily."

"I know…" Bonnie sniffled. "How are you feeling?"

"Dreadful. Just completely, utterly drained. I – oh God – I feel sick…" I groaned, wiping cold sweat from my forehead.

"Wait… you're not actually going to…" Bonnie wrinkled her nose in disgust, "you know, throw up, are you?"

"No… maybe… _shit, _get a bucket or something…"

"Crap!" she exclaimed, disappearing from view.

I was suddenly very glad Sage wasn't here to see this. I felt truly pathetic. A mere 48 hours ago, I was a powerful ass vampire with the world at my feet, and now I was lying in some kind of prison cell/basement/torture porn dungeon, useless, human, and quite possibly about to vomit up half my insides.

Wait a second, when did I become so damn whiny? Being possessed does that to you, I guess? I didn't remember much about the last time.

Thankfully, Bonnie appeared a few seconds later, with Mrs. Flowers in tow, holding some kind of plastic bucket.

"Thank God," I muttered.

She was trying to shove the bucket through the bars, but predictably enough, it wasn't working. I was quickly losing the little patience I had left. I retched violently.

"_Open the damn door!"_ I yelled.

Finally, with shaking hands, Bonnie opened the door and burst in, thrusting the bucket in my face just in time, as I was violently sick.

Bonnie was quite sweet really, holding my hair back from my face and generally making a fuss over me as she usually did, but I was getting more irritable by the second, and I really just wanted to be left alone.

Mrs. Flowers peered round the door awkwardly, and eyed me up and down. "You look very pale, boy. Can I get you anything to eat?"

"Don't call me that; I've got at least 400 years on you."

She appeared to be trying not to laugh. "Well, being human hasn't changed your sense of humour, at least…"

I suddenly realized I was starving. I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday, and that cupcake hadn't been too satisfying. "Uh… water would be good, thanks," I said quickly. I could still taste the bile in my throat. "And - " I attempted a weak smile in Bonnie's direction, "got any oranges?"

She smiled back. It wasn't a heartfelt declaration of love, but it was the best I was going to get for now.

…**Kind of short chapter, I know, but I was really getting stuck for ideas. I'll get back to you with a longer chapter next time. At least 2000 words, k? :)**

**Now please review, and if you liked it, please vote on my What Story Should I Write Next poll, it will only take a few seconds and I will LOVE YOU FOREVER. XD **


	8. Never Good News

**Ok, I did try to upload quicker, but my electricity went down and I haven't had access to a working computer for the past few days :'(**

**AND I went away for a bit**

**AND I have been stuck for ideas.**

**AND then I got banned from the computer for a bit.**

**AND I have been majorly distracted.**

**So I tried. I will try harder next time :'( Love you guys for sticking around :D**

**And please continue to read, review and vote on my poll (which will be open until I finish this… which will take a LONG time. But not too long. Hopefully.)**

**And by the way, I changed my name. Just in case you thought I was some random who stole my story and uploaded it as their own. It's me :P**

**And I will love you FOREVERANDEVER.**

**Anonymous Review Replies:**

**YazzPattzSalvatore: **Damon will be turning into a vampire, but not until nearer the end of the story. Besides there are some things humans can do that vampires can't… if you know what I mean ;)

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***Bonnie's POV***

After Mrs. Flowers left, I sat down in the cramped basement room next to Damon.

"You're worried about me. That's sweet. But really…" he sighed, "you can leave me alone now."

I shook my head. "You just don't get it, do you? I_ want_ to be here. Iactually _wanted _to make sure you were alright. And don't pretend like you're not grateful for the company."

"Of course I am… at least until the next time I try to kill you. I think you were right – we should just stay away from each other."

"No, Damon, I _never_ said that!" I cried. "I just said we were better as friends."

"And I'm just saying, you need to stay away from me for now," he replied blankly. "It's for your own good."

I shook my head, my eyes brimming with tears. "That's not your decision to make, so don't do this. I'm trying to be your _friend. _And you don't exactly have a lot of friends right now."

"Really? You think?" Damon's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "That's not exactly high up on my list of priorities." He gave a mirthless, sarcastic laugh that ended in a cry of pain as he collapsed in a heap on the ground.

"I'm fine…" he panted. "Just… another headache…"

Mrs. Flowers poked her head around the door timidly. "Is everything alright in here?" she asked, extending one trembling hand and handing over a glass of water to Damon. He snatched it from her and drained it without a single word.

"Oh, and I also found these," she said quickly, handing us each an orange. For a second, the expression on Damon's face almost resembled a smile.

"Thanks," he muttered, still avoiding looking at me.

"Is there anything else we can do?" I asked hopefully. "Maybe…" Mrs. Flowers put a hand on my shoulder, silencing me with a few words.

"I think Damon wants to be left alone, dear."

"Fine." I muttered. "Fine. I've got… stuff to do, so…"

We all knew I was lying, but Damon nodded approvingly and leaned back into the wall. "Well, see you later then. _Or not."_

I turned around and stormed out without another word.

"Lock the door on your way out," he called. I heard Mrs. Flowers shutting the door and the locks clicking behind me. I knew exactly what Damon was trying to do, in his own weird way. He wanted to make me hate him, so I would stay away from him. He didn't want to hurt me. Which was sweet, but increasingly irritating. And there was one major flaw in that plan: Damon could never make me hate him. I smiled to myself and left Damon alone to feel sorry for himself.

***Meredith's POV***

It was raining that evening, a heavy, persistent rain - the sort that brought thunderstorms. The sky was a dismal grey colour that matched the general atmosphere in the house. Sage, Elena, Matt, Stefan and I sat around the fireplace. Elena was desperately trying to lighten the mood, but for once it wasn't working. The conversation kept coming back to the same topic: what the hell we were going to do about Damon.

"The way I see it," Stefan added, for about the tenth time, "It's all Damon's fault."

"Well…" Matt replied slowly, "He didn't exactly know any of this was going to happen, did he? Not that he didn't have it coming…"

We were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat overly loudly. I turned around to see Bonnie's little face peering around the doorway. "So... how's it going?" she said, slightly awkwardly.

"Uh… hi, Bonnie. Come sit down?" I suggested, moving up a little so there was room for her on the couch. She gave a somewhat weary smile, before flopping down on the couch next to me.

"How's Damon?" Elena sighed.

"Dreadful." Bonnie shook her head. "He doesn't even have the energy to be sarcastic."

"Shit…" Elena turned to Stefan, who looked seriously tired of the whole conversation. "…What? Something's seriously wrong."

Stefan went quiet for a moment, almost weighing up in his mind whether or not he found that funny, before letting out a short laugh.

"On a serious note," Bonnie chipped in. "You really need to let this grudge go. I totally understand why you're so pissed at him, but this isn't like you. It's getting ridiculous. He never wanted to be human, and he wants to be a vampire as much as you want your humanity back. He may be a dick at times, but he's your brother. And he's possessed again, and he may not want to admit it, but he's scared. He needs you right now. So stop being a dick."

What followed could only be described as an awkward silence that lasted several seconds, after which, Sage got up from where he was sitting next to me and started clapping. Stefan looked just about ready to kill him. Sage turned to look at me. I shook my head slowly, and he sat down again. Then, just when I thought Stefan was going to go completely mental, he looked around at all of us and simply nodded.

"You're right…" he said slowly. "I guess I just… it was my one chance to be human again. And when you really want something…"

"But you need to let it go now." I agreed. "So… why don't you go talk to your brother?"

"He won't want to see me right now. But... later?"

Elena put her arm around Stefan and kissed him gently. "That sounds good. I couldn't stand everyone fighting. Now…" Elena made a big gesture looking at her watch, despite the fact she wasn't wearing one. "Well!" she said, as if just realising something. "It's nearly half past two. You must be… _hungry."_ She pushed some of her long hair back from her neck. Stefan smiled.

"Please…" Bonnie grimaced. "Not on the couch!"

We all simultaneously got up and left the room, leaving Stefan and Elena to it. They could get extremely mushy over sharing blood. It could get pretty nauseating if you were in the same room as them for too long.

* * *

Some time later, we were sitting in the kitchen with Mrs. Flowers and some unidentifiable soup. I had to say though, despite its general appearance of sewage waste, it actually didn't taste too bad.

"Well, they're taking a while, aren't they?" Matt sighed. He was referring to Stefan and Elena, of course, who we had left alone over an hour ago.

"When a vampire shares blood, whether with a human or another vampire, their minds become linked, meaning they lose all sense of time," Sage explained.

"…Right."

"Well, this is just weird." I said. "And we can't exactly go out without running into Shinichi and his… _minions. _Which leaves us stuck here."

I was interrupted by a loud clap of thunder and lightning that illuminated the whole room with an eerie glow. Bonnie screamed.

"Bonnie, it's just weather. Calm down." I said exasperatedly. But Bonnie didn't seem to be listening. She sat completely still, staring straight ahead at nothing in particular.

"Bonnie? …Can you hear me?" Still nothing.

"Meredith, shut up for a minute." Matt whispered. "I think she's having a premonition."

"Well that can't be good…" I muttered. It was true. Whenever Bonnie had a premonition, it was never good news.

She let out another bloodcurdling scream that made my head ache. "He's coming…" she said slowly. "He's coming."

"Who, Bonnie? Who's coming?" Matt asked.

"She can't hear us," I reminded him. "Just listen."

She continued staring straight ahead, seemingly unaware of our conversation. "He's coming… The scourge of the Dark Dimensions…The destroyer of worlds… He will stop at nothing to get what he wants… What he desperately needs… And one who stands in his way will die before the full moon rises… Those who choose stand against him should choose who to trust carefully… If anybody chooses the wrong side, the consequences could be dire…" She ended with another scream, before finally falling flat on the table.

"Bonnie?" I reached out and shook her gently.

"What…?" she murmured softly. "What happened?"

"Bonnie… you sort of had a premonition…"

Her expression turned to one of horror. "Shit! What did I say?"

"Quick, someone write it down!" Matt added.

Mrs Flowers, who had been standing quite forgotten in the corner, held up her hand nervously. "…Excuse me? Maybe this will help." She extended her other hand to show us a small notepad, with Mrs. Flowers' neat writing on it. "Premonitions are important. I thought it best to write it down as soon as young Bonnie went into a trance. And this one sounded _serious."_

At that moment Stefan and Elena burst into the kitchen, looking both frantic and slightly awkward. "Oh my God, what happened? I heard screaming." Elena immediately threw her arms around Bonnie, who looked like she was either going to throw up or burst into tears. For the sake of Elena's pristine white top, I hoped it was the latter.

"Bonnie had a premonition." Matt reported.

"It's true…" Mrs. Flowers handed Stefan the notepad, sounding quite shaken.

Stefan examined the writing. "The scourge of the Dark Dimensions… destroyer of worlds… I assume we're talking about Shinichi here?"

"Did I say that?" Bonnie wailed.

"It looks like you did… It's ok, Bonnie, calm down…" Elena said soothingly.

"Well, obviously it's Shinichi. The question is, what the hell's he up to?"

"He wants something… no, needs it." Stefan frowned. "She didn't say what it was?"

"No, Stefan. It's not like we can just ask." Matt said.

"I know, I know…"

"Well, that's the really obvious part." Bonnie sighed. "…What? Look, Fell's Church is full of Power, right? The power that draws supernatural beings to it like moths to a light bulb. The power that gets stronger the more blood is spilled. Someone like Shinichi would tear the town apart for power like that, as he's pretty much doing already. I thought we established this?"

Bonnie was right. It was so obvious. She looked incredibly pleased with herself for being the one to make a useful contribution.

"But the Power's what he _wants._ You said he _needs _it. Desperately, if I remember correctly. Why does he need it? We don't stand a chance until we know what he needs it for. Just saying."

"Meredith's right." Sage agreed. "Are we any closer than we were?"

Stefan looked up from the notepad and nodded slowly. "The second part. One who stands in his way will die before the full moon rises. The full moon's in a couple of weeks. As far as I know, we're the only ones standing against Shinichi."

Bonnie screamed. "No! Oh God, no!" She looked around at us frantically, as if she was trying to guess who was doomed.

"Bonnie, nobody's going to die. It's going to be alright." Elena insisted, but we all knew it was pointless. Bonnie had had a premonition. They _always _came true. Denying it wouldn't change anything.

"Apparently we have to choose who we trust carefully. Or the consequences will be dire." Stefan continued.

"Well that's news," Matt added, clearly wanting to change the subject too. "Who do you think it means?"

"No idea." I replied. "This is hopeless. We don't even know where Shinichi is, let alone how we're supposed to fight him."

Sage put a hand on my shoulder gently. "We _can_ do this, Meredith. And I, of course, will do whatever I can to help. We can do this. Believe me."

And I did. I trusted Sage. It was weird – I barely knew him, but when he told me we _could _fight Shinichi, I believed him. His hand felt warm and comforting on my cold skin, and I couldn't help but remember yesterday, after Alaric's phone call, when he had held me. He made me feel stronger.

"I believe you," I whispered. It was a barely audible whisper to me, but I knew Sage could hear me. I smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Well, maybe we should … what was that?" Stefan said suddenly.

"Oh, God." I cried. I could hear it too. It sounded like a scream of anguish. We all looked round and stared in the direction it was coming from.

The basement.

"Guys?" Bonnie squeaked. "Who's watching Damon?"

And without another word, we all ran to the stairs leading down to the basement.

* * *

**Well that was a hard chapter. Writers block KILLS. Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger there, but I just really wanted to upload before SuperFunkyGirl1 murders me. I'll update a lot quicker now I'm on summer break :D  
Liked it? Review! Hated it? Review anyway! (constructive please)**

**And if you can vote on my poll I would be really grateful.. XD**


	9. The Lions Are At The Door

**Where did the last month or 2 or 3 go? Slowly, I imagine, if you were waiting for this. But I can't imagine who in their right mind would. Every time I say I'm going to update soon, I take AGES. So I'm going to try something different this time. If I say I'll update quickly and it makes me update slow, If I say I'm going to never update again, in theory I should be able to get off my lazy backside to update quicker. So this is it, I'm never going to update again, and definitely not any time this weekend. *sarcasm*  
**

**Anonymous Review Replies:**

**YazzPattzSalvatore: **Holy. Fudge. I literally just realised that!

…

Um… ah…

…

Wellllllll… I guess when Caroline got possessed, she started doing weird stuff normal humans can't do and she had like malach tentacles or something? Maybe that happened and he's just stronger than most humans anyway I guess…

**BoldBlondeandBeautiful: **LOL glad you liked it, even if you don't normally do after shadow souls stories, so I take it as even more of a compliment. I LOVE your story Damon's Return so I thought I'd give it a shout out.

_(Guys, this is an awesome story ^^^^^ _

_Seriously, read it when you're done with this.)_

**Lilvi:**Well this story is pretty much centred around Bamon, so I kind of wanted to keep the Delena angst to a minimum. Bamon's kind of my OTP. Hope that clears things up :D

**Cactus Luv: **ooohhh I love getting reviews! :D I guess we're both happy then?

* * *

***Bonnie's POV***

My heart was pounding as we ran to the stairs with a sense of urgency that was becoming pretty much normal for me now. Sage raced on ahead of us and flung the door open. He was down the stairs in a matter of seconds. The others quickly followed. I stood, still shaking after my premonition, at the very top of the stairs, unable to move. Damon's screams were getting louder. I had a really bad feeling about what was about to happen.

"Bonnie?" I felt a hand gripping mine. It was Meredith. She led me down the stairs, looking infuriatingly calm and collected for someone who had just learnt that one of us was going to die. But if there was one thing I knew about Meredith, it was that she was probably anything but calm on the inside. She always held it together, though, mostly for my benefit. I couldn't help feeling guilty at that realisation.

Sage was hammering at the door to Damon's room. "Damon? What is it?"

Damon seemed oblivious to what was happening. I dared myself to move closer, step by step, until I stood at the door next to Sage. I peered tentatively through the small hatch in the door. He was curled up in a ball, with his back to us and his head in his hands, just screaming. He looked so lost. Part of me (the part that wasn't terrified) wanted to open the door and comfort him. I looked up at Sage, who shot me a stern look. "Don't go any closer," he warned me.

"Damon!" I yelled. "Can you hear us?"

He let out a low growl. I was unsure whether it was a response or not. Then, slowly, he began to move. The screaming stopped. We all took a step back. I held my breath, waiting for what was going to happen next. Then, with impossible speed, he turned to face us and ran to the door instantly. His eyes were glaring red again, and the grin on his face was _unnerving _to say the least.

"Shhh… just listen. Listen! Can't you hear it?" he said softly.

We all stopped for a second. Apart from the thunder and the rain pelting down overhead, we stood in silence.

"What are you talking about?" I asked slowly.

His hellish red gaze fixed on me, he started to laugh. It was a short laugh, cut off before I could acknowledge it. "Did you deliver my message, Bonnie?"

"Bonnie? What's he talking about?" Stefan interrupted.

"No…" I murmured. "_No! _That was just a dream. How do you know about that?"

"Oh, Bonnie…" he sighed pityingly. "Sweet, innocent Bonnie… You of all people should know the significance of dreams."

"Bonnie…" Stefan said, more firmly this time.

Damon (or rather, whatever was possessing him) let out a low, inhuman growl, baring rows of perfectly white teeth. "Oh, it's too late now. _The lions are at the door!"_ he said in a sing-song voice.

"Shut _up, _Damon!" I wailed.

"…What was that?" Elena screamed.

And then I heard it. We all did. A loud, persistent knocking at the door. _The lions are at the door. _I could feel tears stinging my eyes, but I blinked them back furiously. _None of this was my fault. _

Damon leaned in close to the hatch in the door, grinning like a maniac. "Knock, knock…" he whispered.

"Who's there?" Meredith finished.

"Not helping, Meredith." Matt said firmly.

Sage cleared his throat. "I suggest… we, or at least one of us," he raised his voice to be heard over the loud knocking, "_answer that damn door."_

I turned to Sage. "Are you serious?"

Sage nodded solemnly. "It sounds like whoever wants to get in will break the door down if we don't. Madame Flowers, if you would kindly stay down here with the others. Stefan and I will answer the door." Stefan nodded in agreement.

"What?" Meredith said incredulously. "But you have no idea what's out there! And you just expect us to sit here?"

Stefan nodded. "It's safer – for all of you."

Meredith shook her head. "I'm coming with you."

Sage placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I refuse to let anything happen to you."

"And if something happens to you?" she replied.

"Well I'm staying here," I insisted. Matt and Mrs Flowers nodded in agreement. Elena hesitated for a while, glancing back at Damon, who looked like a rabid dog. But eventually she nodded too. "Meredith?" she squeaked.

"I'll be alright." She smiled, taking Sage's hand in hers. Sage still looked a little unsure, but when Meredith had made her mind up about something, there was no changing it. Stefan led them up the stairs slowly and cautiously. I watched on in horror until my best friend disappeared from view.

***Meredith's POV***

I kept holding on to Sage's hand as we trailed up the stairs and towards the door, constantly reassuring him that everything was going to be alright.

"Very touching," Stefan sighed, "But can we get on with the task at hand?"

I rolled my eyes. Stefan was still in a foul mood. In my opinion, he was probably annoyed Elena hadn't insisted on coming with him. The knocking was almost deafening. I knew that for the vampires, with their heightened senses, the noise was much worse.

"For God's sake, we're coming!" I muttered.

Sage opened the door by a tiny crack, peered through and almost instantly shut the door again and bolted it. His eyes were wide and his face was white as a sheet. He whispered one word that silenced us both.

"…Shinichi."

Of course it was. We had been stupid, thinking about how we were supposed to find him, not even considering he would find _us. _

The letterbox snapped open. "I swear, if you don't let me in, I'll break down this door – no, I'll tear this house down until you listen to me!" Shinichi yelled. There was an air of desperation in his voice, which he couldn't disguise, no matter how hard he was trying.

"What do you want?" Stefan shouted back.

"I – I'll explain when you let me in. _Please._" He wasn't even trying to disguise it now.

"That's not how it works. After everything you've done… And as for the promise you made to my brother…"

"Did I not keep my word?"

"You know you didn't, unless there's some other malicious supernatural force possessing Damon right now, but it would seem you're the only one in town."

Shinichi laughed. "The only one you _know _of," he said pityingly. "Trust me – you…"

"Trust you?" I suppressed a laugh.

Even from behind the door, I could tell Shinichi was getting more impatient by the second. "Something's coming. Something more powerful than anything I'm capable of. The malach are no longer under my control. And… believe me, you're the last people I'd turn to for… _help, _but it would seem my usual partners in crime have deserted me…"

"Hang on. Rewind. _You _want _our _help?" I spluttered.

"This is more of a last resort, so don't start thinking you're anything special."

Sage rolled his eyes. "Shinichi, cut the crap," he said impatiently, "and explain what's going on."

"Let. Me. In." he growled.

"If – and that's a very big _if_ – we were to let you in, you would kill us all on sight." Stefan pointed out. "So what makes you think we'll trust you?"

There was a long silence. Finally, Shinichi said softly, "He's taken Misao."

Stefan took a step towards the door and unlocked it. "Who's taken Misao?" he asked suspiciously.

"Does that mean I can come in?"

I kicked Stefan in the ankle. Hard. It probably didn't hurt him at all, but at least it got his attention. I shook my head frantically, mouthing the words, '_Don't let him in.' _Stefan sighed and turned to me and Sage. "Look, if by chance Shinichi _happens _to be telling the truth-"

"If, Stefan. _If."_ I interrupted, earning a low growl from Shinichi.

"_If _Shinichi is telling the truth, that means we now have some unknown malicious supernatural force on our hands. We have no idea what they're capable of. They could be a threat to Elena… and to the rest of us, of course. And Fell's Church. Remember Bonnie's premonition. The scourge of the Dark Dimensions? The destroyer of worlds? Ring any bells?" He opened the door, revealing Shinichi. His scarlet-tipped black hair was soaked with rain and he seemed pale and gaunt, almost like he hadn't eaten for days. He looked pathetic and, well, almost human. "_That _hardly fits the description."

"I also remember Bonnie's premonition telling us we should choose who we trust _carefully." _I reminded him. "This is exactly what it means."

"Meredith." Sage placed a hand on my shoulder. "If there is something else out there, then the only source of information we have at the moment is Shinichi. I don't like it any more than you do, but we stand a better chance working together."

I sighed. "Fine. Does he have to be invited in?"

"Yes, he does." Shinichi said, exasperated. "I thought you'd never ask."

I took a deep breath, trying to keep the shakiness out of my voice. "… Come in?" I squeaked, hating how scared I sounded.

Shinichi grinned, obviously enjoying the fact that we were still slightly wary of him. There was a sharp clicking sound from behind me, and Shinichi's grin disappeared from his face instantly. I turned around to see that Stefan was holding a revolver, pointed directly at Shinichi.

"These bullets were blessed by a shrine maiden. I'm sure you know what that means. So don't try anything." he growled.

I rolled my eyes. "Well," I sighed, "Looks like we've got some serious explaining to do. _All _of us. Downstairs?"

Stefan and Sage nodded in agreement, and eventually, so did a somewhat shaken Shinichi.

* * *

**Short chapter, but I have kept you guys waiting for an unforgivably long time, and HAD to get this uploaded. Just remember, I'm definitely NOT going to update this weekend *sarcasm***

**PWEASE review. It means a lot. And, if you happen to wander over to my profile, I think you'll find a cheeky little poll. If you could go over and vote on that, you would make me very very happy. And in celebration of me FINALLY reaching the big old chapter 10, it's going to be a big old retcon chapter. So yes, you finally find out what's going on with Shinichi. And I promise it will be at the very least 2000 words. Coming up to 2500. Well there is some serious explaining to do…**


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